Trademarks

A trademark identifies your products or services in the marketplace, it forms a part of your brand in shaping how your products or services are perceived in the minds of consumers.

A registered trademark is a key way of protecting your brand identity. Registration of your trademark provides legal proof of ownership and the right to the exclusive use of the trademark in Canada in association with the products or services with which it is registered.A trademark may be made up of words, a design, or a combination of these that is used to identify the source of products or services as coming from one person or organization. A properly selected trademark will distinguish your products or services from those of your competitors and others in the marketplace.

Trademarks come to represent not only the actual goods or services, but also the reputation, of the producer. As such, trade-marks constitute valuable intellectual property.

An ordinary trademark consisting of words, a design, or a combination of these as described above.

A certification mark which is similar to an ordinary trademark but it is not used by the owner. Instead the owner permits others to use it under license for the purpose of identifying products or services that meet a defined standard to indicate that the products or services are of a particular quality or that the people providing them have a particular set of skills;

A distinguishing guise, which is the shape of a product or its container or the mode of wrapping or packaging of the product that distinguishes it as originating from specific individual or company. For example, if you manufactured shampoo and sold it in a uniquely shaped bottle, you could register the shape of the bottle as a distinguishing guise.